The theme of aging in Yeats' poems Among School Children and Wild Swans at Coole
Toni Gardyne ________________ Yeats’ poetry communicates potent and universal ideas, which continue to make his poetry of relevance to today’s audience. His excellence in artistic expression enables him to intertwine his own ideas and philosophies and contextual issues, and as such we as responders are presented with the unique view points, philosophies and Yeats' self perceptions whilst simultaneously provided with an opportunity to broaden our understanding and perspectives on life, and explore universal themes, which are still relevant in our society. ‘Among School Children’ and’ Wild Swans at Coole’, deep examine the transcendental tensions between the purpose of life and the eventual decline of physical and spiritual aging through self reflection and retrospection. Yeats' intense preoccupation with the processes aging is clearly evident. Among School Children reflects an intense concern with the process of growing old with its associated notions of decay and the looming threat of death on both a psychical and spiritual level. The imagery of an aged man as a 'scarecrow' is prominent throughout several of Yeats poems and it is certainly not coincidental that nearly all the examples of this image are connected to his thoughts on aging. As the reader, it is hard to escape the fact that the speaker is a man of advanced age and we are reminded of this in the
To what extent is Yeats concerned with his status of a victim of unrequited love?
Aaron Danelian To what extent is Yeats concerned with his status of a victim of unrequited love? Within ‘the Cold Heaven’, Yeats projects his status as a victim of unrequited love through the use of paradox within the poem. Within ‘the Cold Heaven’, Yeats offers a vision of impassioned guilt which is triggered by natural beauty; a wintry sky. The use of paradox “ice burned and was but more ice” suggests a concern with the afterlife and of heavenly judgement. Furthermore, Yeats makes clear that as a lover, time does not erode the memory and that he himself is gripped by the intensity of feelings. The tumult emotion further stirs the imagination and shows that Yeats is “possessed by memory”. Also, ice connotes a death, but furthermore, distant love as ‘burned’ conveys the heat of the passion of the lovers. ‘Ice cold’ furthermore suggests the feeling of painfulness of the loss and the speaker caught overwhelmed by emotions and former feelings of love. In comparison to ‘the Wild Swans at Coole’ the poems both focus on the loss of love and the way in which time erodes human relationships so effectively. Yeats also uses nature as a symbol of his alteration with his lover. The opening stanza ‘all’s changed’ enforces the image of stasis and is symbolic of the poet’s own feelings of age and his alteration with his former love interest “mirrors a
The Winding Stair: The poem Byzantium in relation to Sailing to Byzantium:
The Winding Stair: The poem Byzantium in relation to Sailing to Byzantium: This poem by Yeats is a continuation from his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ in the previous collection. Byzantium, like Sailing to Byzantium deals with the problems posed by advancing age. Which marked a serious issue for Yeats and the effect of growing old was a deep issue for age quite evident in his poetry. The poem I have chosen today deals with Yeats insecurities of growing old. Yeats found the idea of bodily decay and decrepitude intolerable. In this poem he outlines a means of escape from this, he wishes to evade reality and travel in imagination to an ideal place where he will be exempt from decay or death a civilisation in which he can spend his eternity as a work of art. This poem deals with Yeats search for a happier future and one which doesn't deal with the horrifying effects of death and decay. Like all of Yeats poems, it possess a lot of metaphor's and annotations I will discuss these and how they contribute to the poem and contribute to Yeats’s feelings of the effect of the onset of old age. For my analysis of the poem today it possess a lot of metaphoric meaning, similar to Yeats’s style of writing The title of the previous poem 'Sailing to Byzantium' expresses Yeats’s idea of a voyage to perfection. In this case the voyage is to a country of the mind, firmly situated in
Commentary on "The Cold Heaven" by W.B.Yeats
The Cold Heaven ‘The Cold Heaven’, is about Yeats’ is a poem dedicated to his one and only true love, Maud Gonne, it is a true Romantic poem with feeling expressed and it is inspired by nature as well as prompting the reader to reflect at regular intervals. He expresses his regret and guilt over their failed love together and believes that he will be punished after death for it, which relates the title ‘The Cold Heaven,’ which isn’t surprising because he was a devote Irish catholic and this was believed extensively. He gives us the impression that he has behaved badly in his relationship with Maude Gonne and is full with ‘a bleak spasm of guilt’ when in fact she is the one who should have been feeling guilty because he proposed to her many times but she was very heartless in rejecting him every time, when it is obvious that he is madly in love with her. There is a very clever use of juxtaposition in the title, ‘Cold Heaven’, the word cold has an obvious meaning but heaven is generally assumed to be a warm, happy and vibrant place so having a strong adjective before it makes it seem a lot worse than it truly is, maybe he describes it as ‘cold’ because he believes he might be rejected from it when the time comes. Also it is a direct reference to God, yet seems to go against what heaven is perceived as being like, showing how even religion is not a
The Life And Poetry Of William Buttler Yeats
The Life And Poetry Of William Buttler Yeats The Life And Poetry Of William Buttler Yeats On June 13 1865 William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin Ireland. From the start Yeats had artistic influences, due to the fact that his father Jack Butler Yeats was a noted Irish painter. He had no formal education until he was eleven, at that time he started at the Godolphin Grammar School in Hammer*censored*h England and later he enrolled in Erasmus Smith High School in Dublin. Throughout his schooling he was considered disappointing student, his studies were inconsistent, he was prone to day dreaming, and poor at sports. In 1884 Yeats found his way to the Metropolitan School for the Arts, here he met a poet by the name of George Russell. Yeats and Russell sheared the same dreams, visions, and the enthusiasm for them. Russell and Yeats soon founded the Dublin Hermetic Society for the purpose of conducting magical experiments. They promoted their idea that "whatever great poets had affirmed in there finest moments was the nearest we could come to an authoritative religion and that their mythology and their spirits of wind and water were but literal truth." This sparked Yeats's interest in the study of the occult. After his experience in the hermetic society he joined the Rosicrucians, Madam H.P. Blavavtsky's Theosophical Society, and MacGregors Mather's Order of the Dawn. Yeats
Leda and the Swan Commentary.
Marc Barron November 2, 2003 Period 7 Leda and the Swan Commentary The poem "Leda and the Swan" is based on the mythological story about the rape of Leda, a mortal woman who marries a mortal man, Tyndareus, but was sought out by Zeus, the god of the gods. As a result of this rape, Leda lays two eggs, one which hatches into the war-gods Castor and Polydeuces, and the other which hatches into Clytemnestra and Helen, who is to become the most beautiful woman alive. Yeats poem tells the actual situation of Zeus having sex with Leda in the form of a swan. Yeats use of structure and imagery show that the whole poem is a poem of contrasts. The poem is written in a traditional form, a sonnet, using a traditional rhyme scheme. However, the irony in the structure of this poem is extremely non-traditional. The reader sees violent images of rape rather than a traditional love sonnet. The structure of the poem also matches the structure of the mythological incident. The first quatrain depicts the assault of Leda (1-8), whereas "A sudden blow" initiates the octave; the second quatrain reflects Leda's emotions, whereas "A shudder in the lions" initiates the sestet (9-15). Between the first half of the sestet, "A shudder in the lions,"(9) which represents the moment of ejaculation, and the second half of it, which shows a receding into memory and the question for meaning, a cut line,
Belfast Confetti
Belfast Confetti Belfast Confetti is a poem written by a Northern Irish poet based upon the Irish troubles of the 1970's. He describes dramatically the turmoil between catholic and protestant people and expresses his feeling towards the civil unrest and protests of the time. The poet uses the ironical title 'Belfast Confetti' for his work. Confetti is usually thrown over the bride and groom at a happy event - a wedding. However, instead of small pieces of paper, this confetti is used to mean debris from bombs and objects hurled by rioters. The poet probably witnessed at first hand some of the atrocities, many taking place in Belfast, the Northern Irish capital. The poem is written in the present tense and the repeated use of the word 'I' shows how the poet has been involved in the events and how disturbing it has been for him. By using the first person the poet tries to engage the reader's interest and also recreate the reality of the events. In the first verse of the poem the poet attempts to describe horrific scenes of violent action. The television images we are familiar with are brought to reality with 'riot squads', 'bursts of rapid fire', 'side-streets blocked', and the horrors of nail-bombs. However, the poet has difficulty describing these and so relies on metaphoric use of the terminology of type face and punctuation to help to portray the scene. A burst of rapid
Write about the theme of love in at least two of w.b. Yeats' poems in a suitable way
Pre 20th century poetry Write about the theme of love in at least two of w.b. Yeats' poems in a suitable way Throughout Yeats' early poetry, the theme of love is one of utmost importance, especially in his earlier works. What we must note and remember is that at the time in which Yeats was writing his earlier poetry, he had two main obsessions- Maude Gonne and Irish culture. Maude Gonne was a very well sought- after woman, and she had many admirers, among them was Yeats. Her beauty enthralled Yeats. She had an affair with a Frenchman, and had two children with him, but she married Major John McBride in 1903, much to the dismay of the besotted Yeats. She was his unrequited love for all his life and he proposed to her three times. Each time she turned him down by saying, "No, Willie, the world would not thank me for marrying you". While he was in love with Maude Gonne he shared her Nationalistic aims, although he did not believe in violence to achieve Nationalism, and because of this she exerted a strong influence on his early poetry. Yeats' grandfather was a Protestant, and his father did not believe in God and was a man of science, but, as many other Irish poets were from a Catholic background, and because Yeats yearned for a stable life after his unadjusted childhood, he chose to write about very Irish and also somewhat Catholic idealisms in his poetry. Yeats used
Did Charles Stewart Parnell do more to advance or to retard the cause of Irish Independence?
Did Charles Stewart Parnell do more to advance or to retard the cause of Irish Independence? Charles Stewart Parnell has on many occasions been described as the greatest Irish leader since Daniel O'Connell. He was similar in that he used to his powerful persona to gather support for his cause and to hold on to it, in order to make significant progress. Being born into one of the greatest families of Protestant Ascendancy, Parnell lived a relatively quiet life until he entered the furore of politics in 1874. He became an avid Irish Nationalist (which was, no doubt, a consequence of his mother's extremely nationalistic persuasion), and ultimately was elected as Home Ruler for the Irish constituency of Meath in 1875, and in 1877, he was again elected to be the President of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain. It is here that his great contribution to the history of Ireland comes into more significance. Before Parnell's appointment as Home Ruler, Isaac Butt, a protestant lawyer, had spearheaded the creation of the Home Rule Association in 1870. It was a non-sectarian organisation, which aimed (successfully) to appeal to men of all political ideologies. Its single aim was Home Rule for Ireland. However, Butt's leadership skills were questionable right from the start. He lacked the charisma, political ingenuity and eloquence to really move people and rally support for the
Poem Analysis: The Second Coming by W.B.Yeats
Poem Analysis: "The Second Coming" by W.B.Yeats The poem "The Second Coming" written by William Butler Yeats is full of imagery, the uses of exquisite diction, language styles such as personification and hyperbole, as well as a lot of symbolism. The first stanza of this poem described the catastrophes of this world. The word gyre in the first line symbolized history, or the life cycles of men. As a gyre turns bigger and bigger while keeping its original shape, which is round, it means that even though everything, like technology keeps on improving, human nature and the lives that we live never does. History keeps on repeating itself, and human never learn from their mistakes. This gyre also represents a whirlwind, or a storm that shakes the whole world. The falcon and falconer, as referring to a medieval sport, represent a leader and a follower. As the falcon cannot hear the falconer, it means that the followers cannot, or rather, do not want to follow and obey the leader anymore. Imagery is again painted in the fifth line, with the blood-dimmed tide representing an attack or a surge of emotion or action, with blood, meaning with violence. Civilized living, or the ceremony of innocence, by any means, no longer exists. The second stanza, on the other hand, is full of Yeats' prophecies. Referring back to his background, Yeats was not a Christian, but yet he included an
